This post begins with a reblog from a recent post by Jason Kincaid on Techcrunch.  If you are a small business with a physical location in the real world, this is especially relevant to you.

photo © 2009 John Wang | more info (via: Wylio)

Here's What Jason Had to Say

Two weeks ago, Google launched Hotpot, a new site related to Google Places that makes it easy (and sort of fun) to rate your favorite venues and see what your friends have recently liked.

The tech press seemed to take notice of the site for two reasons: first, it’s got a nice design and is more fun than you’d expect. And second, Hotpot is a pretty strange name. Now, it didn’t take long to figure out that this was a reference to the group-oriented Chinese meal hot pot, but many people have never heard of that, and Google didn’t really go out of its way to explain the choice.

Now, two weeks after it left some people scratching their heads, they posted an explanation to the Places blog that gives a bit more background: Hot pot, the dish, is about community. You and your friends huddle together and add ingredients to a pot of boiling broth, creating a delicious soup to be enjoyed by all.

Sometimes you take your own food from the pot, and sometimes you taste what your friends have added. This shared experience of gathering around a fire to cook and eat communally is a fundamental illustration of how we’ve come together to enjoy food from the earliest days of humanity.

What This Means for Your Small Business

Now we're back to me (Jeff) talking. Google certainly throws a lot of resources out there to see what sticks on the Web. However, they clearly are making locations and places one where they can put a serious dent into rival Facebook's armor. 

When you consider not only Google Places, but also Google Maps and Google Earth, you can easily discern that this is a game where Google is likely to surface as the winner. Unfortunately, as a professional speaker, my place is an airplane.  Yet, if I still had my contracting business, I would be all over this one.

I especially enjoy seeing how Google Places use QR Codes to connect places to the social Web.  Show up at a location, scan the code, and learn more about whether or not its right for you.

There is no question that the two dominant forces on the future social Web will be Facebook and Google. My recommendation is to make sure you have your bases covered for both.

BTW, yes it is OK to reblog content when you give full attribution as I have done here.  My content is frequently reblogged in this manner.  It is not only an honor – and another opportunity to share my content with a new audience, but also one more inbound link that increases my authority (translate that to findability) on the social Web.

It's all about sharing and community.

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Until tomorrow,  Jeff